play and letters

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All fiction tries to create the illusion of depth. Describing a world in great detail takes too long, and long-form exposition is boring. So authors use tricks. Part of the the attraction of the [Lord of the Rings] is, I think, due to the… Continue Reading →

One of the things I’ve been doing in lieu of blogging over the past year is working at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. I was part of an excellent team (very high “awesome at their job” average, even… Continue Reading →

Over the last two years, I have spent a lot of time reading studies about K-12 and college courses that incorporate elements of game design. Sometimes, these elements are directly adopted into the structure of the course: educators use points… Continue Reading →

We’re deep into the implementation process for the game-based educational technology referenced in the previous post, and it’s really exciting to see the plans become reality. Trying to force the course management software into tracking and doing things it was… Continue Reading →

Update: The Educational Games Database now exists, pretty much exactly as described here. I built it in Drupal initially, but will shortly (2012) be porting it to MediaWiki, which is a much better fit for an open-access, community-created resource. Please join… Continue Reading →

My last post surveyed what I called “government games.” It’s a fluid genre from the point of view of game mechanics, though common elements can be identified (many drawn from the broader strategy genre, such as button-based user interfaces and… Continue Reading →

I’ve long maintained that the world would be a better place were I in charge. Appoint me your benevolent dictator, and all mankind shall feel the warm embrace of an iron fist. I promise not to squeeze too hard. Of… Continue Reading →

Second Life has gotten a great deal of attention as a potential educational platform over the past several years, and it’s easy to see why. It’s a free virtual world with built-in voice and text chat, it’s highly customizable and… Continue Reading →

Well, I’ve finally gone and done it. I’ve downloaded the trial version of World of Warcraft. I feel terrible about this, because I know I have a tendency to be obsessive about entertainment (not just games, but books, TV shows… Continue Reading →